My mother passed away this morning at the age of 76 after a long slow decline in her health. The photo above is from college and below is with her grandsons Drew and Will is from this past Thanksgiving. Her obituary is below.

Nelda Rose Danz (nee Buller) of Palatine, Illinois, for the last 35 years died January 27, 2008, at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Born May 4, 1931, in Shattuck, Oklahoma. Nelda was proceeded in death by her beloved husband Donald Winston Danz on December 20, 2003, whom she married on March 6, 1955. Nelda is survived by her daughter Donelda CarVen Danz of Carol Stream, Illinois, and Don William Danz (wife Mary) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and grandsons Drew Winston Danz and David William ("Will") Danz.

A graduate of Goltry High School, Oklahoma, Nelda received a Bachelor of Science in Commerce from Oklahoma A&M College now Oklahoma State University, in Stillwater, in 1953, where she was a member and served as President of the Tau Gamma sorority. After graduating OSU, Nelda went to work for then Standard Oil International in Tulsa where she met her husband, Donald who was a geophysicist who spent a career searching for oil.

Married in 1955, the couple soon embarked on a world-wide journey together. They were transferred in 1957 to Venezuela, where they lived for four years and started a family. They spent the early 1960s in Libya, then Donald was transferred to an oil camp facility in Indonesia, while Nelda and Donelda lived in Thailand where Don was born. The next several years were spent in Mozambique, Holland and Norway, with the family returning to the United States in 1970. After two years in New Orleans, the family settled in Palatine.

An avid bowler, bridge player, craft maker and Chicago sports fan, Nelda was a dedicated wife and mother who ran a tight household while Donald was away on extended business assignments. Family was always Nelda's priority as she never missed a sports game or other activity of her children and proudly doted over her grandchildren as her health increasingly declined the past few years.

In lieu of flowers, tax deductible contributions may be sent to Palatine Park Foundation, 250 E. Wood Street, Palatine, IL 60067, for the preservation of open space and scholarships for Palatine Park District activities.

Drew's coloring within the lines has really improved lately. Using his favorite color, Drew did a terrific job of first coloring the dark red portions within the lines, probably because he was pressing harder and concentrating on a smaller area. Then he colored the lighter red and continued doing a pretty good job on that too. And, Drew named his creation...Crayony.

With Fred Thompson dropping out of the presidential race, the Danz Family is throwing its support behind Mitt Romney. There are a lot of challenges facing our nation, but getting the economic engine that drives our nation running at maximum potential is, arguably, the most important. Someone once said that the First Amendment is the most important because with it you can get back all the others. Likewise, with a strong economy, you can then tackle all the other troubles facing our nation. Whereas with a weak economy, other problems become far more difficult if not insurmountable. No one in this campaign has anywhere near the business acumen of Mitt Romney. We believe he is the best candidate to lead us into the future.

The worst, of course, would be a candidate that would drive us closer to socialism. Seriously, how do you think our nation became as great as it is/was? Was it due to the greatness of our government or the greatness of our market driven economy and the incredible economic freedom our nation provides to people? As our nation struggles to maintain its stature in the world, what will help it along? More government give-away programs? Or, a leader that understands business and what is needed to stoke our economic furnace?

And, let me address the "Mormon" issue. Dear unbelievably clueless liberal mainstream media, coming from a non-denominational Christian and a Catholic, we have absolutely no problem with Mitt Romney being Mormon...the only problem with Mitt Romney is that he's not Mormon enough!

Sitting at my desk all day, eating poorly and not exercising has taken its toll. I thought about going into a lot more detail here, but there's really no reason. I also don't know if I'll keep posting about the subject, make a separate page, or some other options I'm considering.

Not a whole lot to post about so here are some simple flash physics games. I find the simply elegance of these games/simulations appealing. I can still remember the day when these would have been considered advanced and marveled at for hours...ahhh simpler times.

I can remember my college roommate, Jon Platt, and I spending way too much time playing a simple orbital simulation on the University of Illinois PLATO computers. It was either that or actually doing our physics labs, so it was an easy choice.

These are just two that I recently stumbled across, maybe in the future when I come across a good one I'll come back and post it here. Anybody else have any suggestions? The only constraint is that it must not be a game or, otherwise, have an actual goal. It must be physics for physics sake alone.